From the North
by Cyricist001
Summary: Winter has finally arrived.


From the North

I own nothing

Also can be considered a challenge if someone can make a proper Warcraft-GoT crossover

* * *

Winter is Coming.

Never did those words sound so foreboding as they did now.

Varys was overjoyed when word reached him that Daenerys Targaryen was approaching the city, her armies and more importantly her dragons with her.

King Tommen, first of his name, found himself as nothing more than a hostage in King's Landing, alive only because he was a child, much the same as Myrcela in Dorn.

Their mother was also detained making sure that she didn't cause any problems.

Everything seemed perfectly fine, then came the word from the North.

The Wall has fallen.

At first nobody cared about the news, for what were the wildlings but a nuisance that were no serious threat to a single region of the kingdom much less the rightful queen of Westeros and her dragons.

The crown had far more urgent business than dealing with those barbarians. The civil war has left much of the kingdom ill prepared for the coming winter, granaries were empty and whole regions were ravaged leaving countless without food or a roof.

Usually people could depend on Highgarden and trade to provide food for the rest, but the Greyjoys under Euron Crow's Eye have sacked much of the Reach. The Iron Bank refused to give any more loans to the Iron Throne until Westeros started to repay what it already owned...not a easy thing to do since Westeros had a large trade deficit with Essos.

The flow of gold went east during Roberts reign and none came back. That in turn created a money shortage and forced the king to debase its currency, drastically reducing the gold and silver content of coins.

Normally that wouldn't be much of a problem but with winter already here goods were high in demand, even more so because of the war induced shortage. Westeros simply had no surplus of goods to pay for importing food...not even selling people in slavery since the cities of slavers bay were now nothing more than ruins.

So peasants died in drowse once more, but this time not through sword and arrow but hunger and cold.

It was at that moment when the realm was in its greatest peril that the northerners surged south. The North was never known as being very fertile or rich, and with Robb Stark leaving his lands largely undefended easy prey for the Ironborn.

His death ended the War of Five Kings, but the damage was already done, half of his kingdom was already sacked by the Greyjoys before the Boltons pushed them back into the sea.

Robb Stark never had much chance of wining the war, he was doomed from the start. But that was before and now with snows already knee deep the time of the wolf has come.

Karstarks, wildlings, Umbers, Dustins, Manderlies and even Boltons rallied behind a new king...

Jon Snow...the Night's King.

Unlike Eddard and Robb he was like the Kings of Winter in ages past. Cold and harsh as the climate that made them, as the climate that made all the northmen.

With the rivers frozen solid his lightly armored hosts easily crossed any obstacle without the need for bridges. And unlike the southern lords they knew how to make even their horses move easily through the snow.

Castle after castle fell to them as no reinforcements could be sent on time because of the abysmal weather. The strongholds that resisted were mercilessly crushed, the defenders being flayed alive or in usual Stark fashion beheaded. But what really terrified the people was when they found out that they actually sacrificed people to their weirwood trees, slitting the captured enemies throats and spilling their lifeblood over the tree trunks.

It didn't take long for castles to surrender out of sheer terror when they saw the wolf or flayed man banners, sparing both sides from spilling blood.

The Dragon Queen didn't hesitate to destroy the Starks, and this time for good. Unsullied, dothraki and all the southern lords rallied behind her dragons.

It was all for naught...

Her armies got stuck in the snow while the Ironborn ships raided their undefended homes as their alliance with the Starks demanded...and though dragons were powerful creatures, they could only defend three separate locations at the same time leaving the rest of the realms vulnerable to the wolf and the kraken.

Until they finally arrived at King's Landing...

* * *

Barristan Selmy watched with dread the army besieging the city. It appeared as every man and woman capable of handling a spear came down south, but that wasn't even the most terrifying thing...

What really struck terror into his bones were the things that were fighting alongside them...White Walkers. Never in his wildest dream's or worst nightmares did he thought that such a thing would happen...

Even if the south outnumbered the north by a large margin, the wights outnumbered both even more.

"I hear they sacrifice their own children to them" said Jorah Mormont who sadly gazed on his family's banners displayed proudly around those of the direwolf.

"I heard the same thing" commented Varys "though as I understand the White Walkers can't reproduce so they take children that were discarded by their parents and turn them into their own...rather noble wouldn't you say. In fact it seems that they themselves were nothing but abandoned babes that the Children turned and brought to the Land of Always Winter."

Jorah nodded "What's also surprising is that the Boltons are still around, I though that Ned Starks bastard would have killed them, but it seems he didn't love his brother that much."

"I disagree" said the eunuch "Tywin Lannister often said that every house needs a beast to strike terror in the hearts of his enemies and allies alike, by keeping the Boltons around he is making sure that no Stark will ever get complacent, since the beast will smell their weakness...and you could hardly call the Boltons useless, their bestial cunning has made them take many a castle with minimal to no loses, something few lords can accomplish."

"I still don't like them" growled Jorah.

"They are not supposed to be liked, they are supposed to make everyone so afraid that they will happily cling to the Starks who would protect them" was the spiders reply as the trio walked away from the balcony. The Master of Whisperers sighed "who would have thought that things would have gone so badly in such a short amount of time, have you heard any news about Viserion and Rhaegal?"

"A raven came this morning, the disease is still killing them, their strength is fading by the day and it is only a matter of time before they perish."

"Terrible...seeing such mighty creatures brought down by pestilence is truly an eye-opener" mused Varys "in the end all that is alive eventually dies, the Stranger makes sure of that."

Jorah glared at the chubby little man "The problem is that most things that die nowadays rarely stay dead."

"If the Night's King really wanted us dead he would have used those Meat Wagons of his to launch his disease ridden projectiles over our walls...no he is waiting for something" added Barristan Selmy.

"And that would be?" asked Jorah.

"If only I knew..."

* * *

Roose Bolton watched his bastard son dismount and gleefully walk towards him.

"Father" grinned Ramsay as he tapped Reek on the shoulder "The Twins have surrendered without a fight."

That didn't surprise him, the Frey's weren't known for their bravery "So where are they?"

Ramsey lost his smile instantly "Where is who?"

"The Frey bannerman" said his father, his words soft as snow.

Ramsey suddenly looked rather nervous "I wasn't aware we needed them..." the more he looked into his fathers eyes the greater his discomfort became.

"What did you do?"

The younger Bolton fidgeted "I...flayed a few."

"How few?"

"...all of them" he also sacked a few other places along the way...like Clegane's Keep and Riverrun...truly nothing worth mentioning.

Roose had a hard time in keeping his frustration with Ramsay at bay, the thought that he will inherit the Dreadfort would fill him with dread...if he actually cared what happened to it in the first place, which he did not "I thought I made myself perfectly clear, you flay those who resist not those who surrender. If you continue to do as you have nobody will surrender to us without battle because they will think that their fate is sealed either way."

"Yes father" said Ramsey though he was already planing to unleash his frustration and anger on the next target he gets...perhaps even Reek. He smiled as he though about the Greyjoy words 'We Do Not Sow' Balon should have changed this to 'We Do Not Think' considering how his stupidity ended._What is dead may never die, but rises again...so it can be flayed for all eternity._

"The king won't be happy about this"

"I don't see why we have to follow a Stark again" growled the heir to the Dreadfort "You killed Robb so we could rule the North."

"Do you honestly think Tywin Lannister would have allowed that?" inquired Roose "He had Tyrion marry Sansa making the Lannister claim on the North greater than anything we had. In the end when I rammed the dagger through Robb Stark it was because I wish to be on the winning side and not perishing with thousands of others in a foolhardy siege of Casterly Rock while the Ironborn conquered the North, the war had to end, the Greyjoys had to go and the Starks weren't in the position to do that."

Seeing how he had his son's full atention he continued.

"No southern army has ever taken the Neck, if Robb stayed and fortified the North at the very beginning of his rebellion he could have withstood the combined armies of the rest of Westeros indefinitely."

The snow cracked under their feet as they made their way through the camp.

"Naturally that would have demanded that he left the Riverlands to their fate, since it could never be held for long. Having us fight south of the Neck shortened Lannister supply-lines and left us exposed against the larger southern armies. Though while a direct invasion of the North would be a logistic nightmare, I suspect that Tywin Lannister would have used assassins to end the Starks in their own castles, even if they had to hire Faceless Men."

"Unlike his brother that acted more like a Andal than a descendant of the First Men, Jon rules like the Starks of old, do you think we would have knelt to the Kings of Winter if they were weaker than we were?"

"No."

"No. You know what the Starks did in the Rape of the Three Sisters, they were as harsh and brutal as all other houses were back then. That changed only recently when Eddard Stark returned from the Vale with those southern values he taught his children, believe me his brother and father were very different. But even during Roberts Rebellion the Boltons fatefully supported him because he was still of the North unlike his eldest son, his Tully blood made him weak."

The trio walked to the crowd that was standing around the Night's King, nobles glared at them but remained respectfully quiet.

From the location they could see their armies spread around the capitol, the Meat Wagons standing at the ready to launch disease ridden corpses over its walls or even sacks filed with a powder made from plague victims in case a dragon had to be permanently neutralized.

Wights and White Walkers surrounded the besieged city even as the last living dragon of Daenerys Targaryen stood guard against the approaching assault, an assault that was about to come as soon as the next blizzard appears, rendering the last healthy dragon unable of fly.

"The Freys won't be coming your grace, unless it's as wights" said Roose Bolton in his soft voice "also I have received word from Pyke, Euron Greyjoy has taken Oldtown in accordance with your alliance, the Tyrells are losing the war."

Lord Bolton didn't need to add how Ramsay flayed the Freys living anyway, his bastard was perhaps cunning but hardly smart. He personally reserved flaying for criminals and castles that didn't surrender and had to be taken by force, now whenever a southern lord sees his banners they immediately surrender and make lives easier for both sides. Jon takes a few hostages and life goes on with the lord offering fealty to Winterfell instead of the Iron Throne.

"Good" said the King of Winter, his glowing blue eyes following Drogon's movements.

The creatures proved to be the undoing of many a host in the field, but what are three dragons against the countless undead under his command. They shattered armies and burned castles down true enough, but in the end they were alive...and like all living things they died.

Not even such majestic creatures were beyond death that decayed their body from within, the best proof of this is their near extinct status. When the last dragon expires, humans will still be born and die until the ending of the world.

As winter engulfed Westeros people found their granaries empty, and as they died from hunger and cold so did his army expand. The dragons no matter now powerful couldn't defend everything and their hides were anything but impervious to the ice weapons made by the White Walkers.

Though the Valyrain steel could kill the White Walkers thanks to the obsidian used in its forging, dragons had no such luck...they were nothing but a forge to craft them.

"My lord the dragon!" said the Blackfish as he pointed to the sky.

The great beast made way towards them and many a lord prepared to flee...all except the King of Winter.

As soon as the beast was close it landed in front of the startled crowd, on it's back sat no other than the Queen of Dragons herself.

"Are you the one they call the Night's King?"

"That I am, speak now Queen of Dragons, what brings you out here in to the cold."

"I wish to end this senseless bloodshed" said Daenerys Targaryen even as her voice trembled at the sight of the flayed dothraki that fell in battle against the northman. Though flaying was painful it didn't necessarily mean that a flayed person would die...but behind them two large piles of decapitated heads proved that while the Stark way was faster and more humane, it was also permanent.

The Horse Lords were horribly out of place in this icy wasteland, in fact the only regions where they could have ever mattered was the Reach and the Crown Lands, all other kingdoms had terrain that favored infantry against cavalry.

"Then we are in accord" said Jon "for I to wish for this to end."

"A duel? Me and Drogon against you and?"

"Just me" said the Night's King as he grabbed the Stark ancestral blade finally retrieved after millennia of absence. No sooner did the words leave his mouth did every single of his bannerman make haste to be outside the general area.

"Then I, Daenerys of House Targaryan, the First of Her Name, Queen of Meereen, Queen of the Andals and the Rhoynar and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms, Protector of the Realm, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, called Daenerys Stormborn, the Unburnt, Mother of Dragons officially challenge you to a duel to the death, I will have justice for what the Starks did to my family."

"Let it begin. I will show you the justice of the grave an the true meaning of fear" said Jon as he warged into her dragon.

Daenerys didn't know what happened, one minute she was riding Drogon as usual the next she found herself on the ground, bitten in half by the very beast she trusted to win the duel, to win the war for her.

As she lay dying, her blood and entrails staining the snow crimson, she saw the Night's King cut down the disorganized Drogon, its head separated from the body with one swing.

Then he walked towards her and raised his sword "Frostmourne hungers!"

End

* * *

AN:

I'm a big fan of undead, so White Walkers winning is a good end in my mind...it was either that or the Starks become best friends with Thrall and his group of emigrating orc's...or perhaps they find and take in a Scourge Acolyte.

The story was mostly inspired by ASoIaF theories that caught my interest, though the show also contributed (The White Walkers love to decapitate people and horses...the Starks like the same thing).

Can someone imagine Westeros ruled by Tyrion while having Varys, Littlefinger, Euron, Tywin, Roose and Lady Olenna on the small council? In one room?


End file.
